The Demon Fell in Love with the Angel
by fuzzyelffreak
Summary: Astrea is a girl who has gone through a lot in her life. Kurt is a demon man who she finds in the church. He tells her about his powers and Mutants, a secret race of humans.When her own powers appear, she needs to learn to restrain herself from usingthem.


**THE **

_**DEMON**_

**FELL IN**___**LOVE**_

**WITH THE**

**ANGEL**

Demon in My Guest Room

This is quite a story, my story; I don't expect you to believe everything I say, sometimes I have trouble believing it myself, but I am here to tell this story, and share this story, I will.

It started out one cold evening. I lived very near the beach, so the air was filled with cold and sometimes harsh winds, plus, it was late into the fall. I walked into my favorite café/bookstore _The Novel Wood. _

"Yo 'Strea!" I heard Kevin call from across the room.

"Hey Kev'" I walked over to him. "The usual please?" I asked. "Sure thing." He turned and made an iced mocha with a chocolate shot, my usual, and no one makes it better than him. I always gave people colors, depending on their personality and what might look good on them. I figured Kevin would be a nice warm brown, just like his skin and his coffee. He talked to me while he made it, telling me about interesting customers and news in the papers that he sold in the corner of the café.

"Did you hear that one story, 'bout the animal at the ole 'bandoned church?" I creased my forehead, "No, there is an animal in the old church?"

"Yep, they say that people who walk by hear noises from inside. But whenever someone tries to find out what it is, all the noise stops and it just seems like the old, musty and dusty church that has always been sittin' there."

"Strange," I said.

"I know, I'm just wonderin' if it's not an animal, but some 'omeless person who don't want to be discovered and thrown out." He said. My heart softened. I hadn't considered that, but now that Kevin pointed it out, all I wanted was to help them if there was a homeless person in there. I had always had a real soft spot in me for people who lived on the streets. I passed my money over the counter

"Give me a chocolate muffin too, please." I told him. I was a choco-freak. I loved most of the things with chocolate in them. He reached under the counter and pulled one out.

"Thanks Kevin, I'll see you later."

I walked to my favorite bench and sipped my coffee, troubled by the thought of some person huddling in the corner of the church starving and shivering. I breathed in the familiar scent of salt and brine from the ocean.

I looked at my muffin, then got up and made my way over to the church.

The church had been abandoned a couple years ago when a new one was built and everyone started going to that one instead. Now it was dusty, filled with some statues no one bothered to claim and probably home to some rats. When I reached it, I stood in front of it, listening intently._ Boom…boom, boom, boom. _I heard it, like someone was hitting the wall. I tiptoed inside, trying to make as little noise possible, taking breaths with care.

I looked around at the walls; the paint was faded and dirty. There were piles of sand in the corners. I silently prayed to the Lord in my head, that if there was a person in here that I would find them, and if they needed help, I could help them. I looked up, there! There were some old sheets that were tied between two pillars. Something dark was lying in one of them, using it like a hammock. I realized that it _was _an animal; a human could not get that high without a ladder. However, an animal that big couldn't either. What was it? I could see the animal's fur, rising and falling with its breath, but I couldn't tell the shade. It was halfway in shadows. I took a step forward, but stupidly, I didn't watch where I was going and I tripped over a plank of wood. I startled the animal and it twisted and got tangled in its makeshift hammock, which loosened from the pillar and fell.

"Aaaah! Oof!"

Wait a minute, it was human! The fur I saw must have been a coat.

I rushed over to him.

"Are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you, I'm sorry!"

He quickly got up and pulled the sheet over him so that I could not see him and backed up against a wall. I backed up one step.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you, Let me help you." I told him.

"Leave!" He shouted, scaring me.

"I just want to help you." I said in the most soothing voice I could muster.

"Go avay; No one ever vants to help me." He had a heavy German accent.

"I do," I held out my muffin. "Here, take it."

His head lifted a fraction, still concealed in his sheet, and then lowered it again. "Vhy?"

He asked. At first I didn't know what he was asking. Wasn't he hungry if he was homeless? Was he just some person resting here? Seeing my incomprehension he added

"Vhy are you helping me?"

"Oh, because I want to, all God's children should be treated fairly." I told him. I tried to sound sincere, and it came out sounding like a Hallmark card. I tried to fix it. "You don't need to hide; I'm mean you no harm." He only scooted back a few more steps.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you get up there?" I gestured to the pillars. "It's quite a long way up." I pointed out.

I set my muffin down on a couple stacked cinder blocks and sat down next to it, a clear invitation. But he was still wary. He kept the sheet on him, but reached out and took the muffin. I smiled in a way I hoped was comforting. Instead of answering, he asked his own question.

"You are Christian?" I nodded. He hesitated, and then said, "If-if I show myself to you, do you promise to not…judge me?" Is that what he was worried about?

"Of course" I told him. "My appearance is most misleading, I don't want to frighten you und have you run off, not vaiting for me to explain. Do you promise?" He asked.

I thought that maybe he was over exaggerating a bit but I said, "Yes, I promise not to run from you, I promise to wait for an explanation and not judge you."

He sighed. He slowly pulled the sheet off his head. I got a glimpse of blue, a hat maybe? No, it was his hair! It was wild, unruly, curly hair. His face was covered in blue fur, his ears were pointed and as he lifted his head to look at my expression, I saw that his eyes were a softly glowing golden color. I quickly checked myself; my mouth was hanging open with a shocked look on it. I struggled to regain my composure, trying to keep my promise. He let the sheet slip all the way off and lowered his eyes. The rest of him was also covered in midnight blue with fur on every inch of his body. He had three fingers on each hand, and two toes on each foot. Swinging behind him was a prehensile pointed tail. He looked like a monster, he looked like a demon! I quickly whispered under my breath a sentence my father had taught me to say if I was ever having bad thoughts.

"Those bad thoughts aren't yours." He would tell me. "Satan and his dark angels put them there. If you're ever feeling doubtful, tell them 'In the name of the Lord, leave me!' and they will go if you really mean it."

He didn't disappear or run, so I guessed that he probably wasn't any kind of evil force. He had no shirt on, showing a muscular chest and arms. But he did have some black cargo shorts. He was bent awkwardly, almost doubled over, wrapping his arms around his torso. There was a dark stain on the fur where his arms were touching his stomach, I realized it was blood. I gasped, He winced.

"You're hurt," I whispered. He had a confused look on his face. I don't think that was exactly what he had been expecting me to say.

"I can help you." I told him, I had studied some medical treatment in college.

"You're not scared? You-you still vant to help me?" I took a breath to answer, when a spasm of pain in my back made me cry out and fall to the ground. My back was cramping and sending out so much pain, I didn't think I could hold myself together. I clenched my teeth and tried not to scream. I was faintly aware of the man/demon bending over me, asking me what was wrong. It hurt so bad I couldn't think. I couldn't answer just yet, but slowly ever so slowly the pain eased up, until I was just sitting there shivering. I unclenched my jaw, which was stiff and burning from doing it so long. I kept my mouth closed though, or my teeth would start chattering.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

I waited, not sure myself, before I answered. "I-I think so." My voice quivered and broke. It wasn't until I touched my face that I noticed tears streaming down. I rubbed vigorously at my face.

"Vhat happened?" His face was full of concern as he held out his strange hand to help me up. I was careful to put as less weight as possible on him, remembering that he was hurt as well, but man! That hurt so bad. His arms were strong, warm and soft. I sat down on the floor with my back against the cinder blocks. I involuntarily shivered. He backed away again.

"I was just about to answer you, but, my back…" I trailed off. I got up, "But I'm fine now, and I'm more worried about you." I held out my hand to him this time.

"Of course I do have a few questions, but they can wait. May I see your wound?"

He was reluctant, but he slowly removed his arm from his waist. It wasn't pretty, and it was dirty and open, his fur was matted and stained. I stepped forward, warning him with my eyes.

"What did this to you?"

"A pitchfork." He answered. I laughed a quick breathless laugh, for some reason that seemed funny to me. He looked up at me with questioning eyes.

"Well, if you come to my home, I have a few things there that I could fix this mess up with. I could also give you some food, more than just a lousy old muffin. And I'm sure you'd prefer a bed to an old sheet in an abandoned church." I said, running my eyes across the ceiling.

He face was even more confused now.

"You're…very kind. You're inviting me into your _home_?" As if he needed to make sure he had heard me correctly.

"Of course, I couldn't very well leave you here!" He smiled tentatively and reached out and shook my hand.

"Can I know your name?" I asked.

"Kurt, Kurt Vagner." He said. "Und yours?"

I smiled. "Astrea Gillepsie." I told him. A small smile tugged at his lips. "Well, come on, let's go." I said, brushing a stray strand of my brown hair to the side.

We started walking. Our's was a small town, so barely anybody walked along the streets. It was unlikely that someone would notice Kurt. The light was fading, and I could barely see him, except for his brightly glowing eyes. This was strange because it was not that dark, yet I could only see the outline of his form.

"That's weird, I can barely see you."

He sighed, "Yes, that's an ability of mine. I can blend vith the darkness."

This made me wonder, what was he? He had said that his appearance was misleading; did that mean he wasn't a demon? I wondered if maybe he meant, that he _looked _like a bad person, but was a good guy instead. He seemed to have a fondness for Christians.

We reached my home and I took the key from under the eave and unlocked it. I led him inside.

"Okay, first we tend to your side. Then we can get you something to eat." I had him lay down on the couch while I cleaned the gash and sewed it up and dressed it. He winced every now and then, but for the most part, stayed strong. Then I put some mashed potatoes and chicken in the microwave, and gave him a large portion. He ate with gusto, I could tell he was trying to slow down and be polite but he was very hungry. The whole time, a soft smile never left his face

I showed Kurt to the guest room. Now that I had taken care of his medical and hunger needs, his tail dragged on the floor. I was careful not to step on it.

"Good night Kurt, sleep well." I closed the door.

I lay in my bed that night, thinking, _there is a good demon in my guest room. Thank you God for giving me this opportunity. _

An Angel In My

Kitchen

I was making eggs with cheese and bacon and tortillas for breakfast at 10:00 in the morning when Kurt came into the room. His hair was a rat's nest. I smiled,

"Go ahead and sit down at the table Kurt, breakfast is almost ready."

I served him and again he ate ravenously.

"_Danke_ Astrea, So, I'll suppose you vill have questions for me. All this hospitality certainly does not come vithout a fee?"

I laughed. "I do have some questions. However, I am being hospitable of my own free will. You can choose whether or not you want to answer them."

"I'm still confused as to vhy you are helping me; I've done nothing for you." He said. Oh how wrong he was.

"Actually, you've done a lot for me. I've been walking in a rut for a long time now. I think it's about time something interesting happens. I also have always had a kind of vague wish my whole life. I've always wanted to help people, but I wasn't sure how. I studied some medical treatment, I've volunteered at homeless shelters and nursing homes. Some I loved, some I couldn't wait for the day to be done." I sighed and rolled my eyes, remembering the different jobs I tried out for.

"It's kind of funny, since none of them quite worked; I'm stuck in this teeny house working as a Wal-Mart cashier."

That reminded me that today was Thursday. I worked tonight.

I told him. "You think you'll be okay here if I leave?"

He laughed, "I'm not a child, and I'll watch your house vhile you're gone."

I smiled; this brought us back to the main topic.

"So, if you're not a child, then what are you?"

"I believe that I am part of a race called, Mutants. We are sort of like humans who have been, modified. Some of us look entirely human, others look entirely different. I am one of those different ones."

There was an entire different race of humans and no one but them knew about it! I was so… shocked! Literally like someone had injected electricity through my veins. Hot, and getting hotter, ow! It hurt, it hurt badly. Right in my shoulders and back, the cramping started again. You'd think that I would have been ready for it this time. No, it was worse. I heard a weird sound coming from somewhere near me, I couldn't tell where it was coming from until my chest heaved with the sobs coming from me. Then, instead of getting better like last time, it got worse. I sat there on the middle of my kitchen floor shaking violently. Something felt like it was pushing on my skin on my back, from the _inside._ Whatever was pushing, it was strong! It stretched my skin till it couldn't anymore and my skin ripped. The pain kept rising until, pop! It was gone, and something new was in its place. It did not hurt, actually, it felt wonderful. It felt like, that feeling that you get when you get up after sitting on your legs for an hour. You know that wonderful feeling of stretching stiff body parts. This feeling wasn't in my legs though, or my arms. It was something I hadn't identified yet. Two new extensions of my body were on my shoulders. I knew one thing right then as I flexed them, I wasn't going to work tonight.

II. Being Bird Girl

I was crouched down, sitting on my knees, my back facing the ceiling. I looked up to see Kurt standing in front of me, His arms reaching out as if he wanted to help me, but didn't know how. The way his face looked, was the same way mine had looked when I had first seen him. His golden eyes were wide open, his chin was dropped. There was one difference though, my face had been slightly horrified, and his was filled with wonder and awe.

"What is it?" My voice trembled. He raised a blue hand and pointed to me, or behind me. I pulled one of the new extensions around to my face so I could see it. As it stretched across my body, I felt the softest thing brush my arm. It was softer than any blanket I had ever felt before. As I pulled it up, I saw that it was feathers, hundreds of light fawn colored and pure white feathers, stitched together to make a huge wing.

"Kurt, what happened to me?"

I reached out and the feathers seemed to reach forward, as if eager for me to touch them. Suddenly, an itch in the back of my mind was brought to the front. My hand came to a stop, and clenched into a fist. The feathers rustled, as if sensing my distress. Some one next to me was experiencing a lot of pain. I don't know how I knew that, but I did, and I had to stop it. I felt my hand reaching involuntarily for Kurt's wound. He backed away; I simply got up and stepped closer to him. Just as I was about to touch him, he disappeared with a puff of smoke and a strange sound. It knocked me to my senses for a moment. What was I doing? What was going on with me? I felt him outside in the backyard; I felt the pain and fatigue of whatever he'd done before.

I walked outside. He backed up again, getting ready to disappear in smoke again.

"Wait, please. Kurt, why didn't you tell me your wound was causing you so much pain?" I clutched my hands to my chest as if to hold myself together from the pain. His eyebrows knit together.

"How do you know?"

I closed my eyes.

"I don't know, but please stay still."

He looked scared. I wanted so badly for him to calm down. His face did calm down, immediately after I thought that. He stepped forward, and my fingertips touched his wound. I knew exactly which veins were torn, how deep the gash was and how much it hurt him. My vision blurred for a moment, but I could see little bolts of white lightning soaring down my arm and under the rags. The rags fell off, the stitches with it. And underneath, the gash was sealing itself up. After a few seconds, it was completely sealed, leaving only a scar.

He and I gasped at the same time.

"What did I do?"

"Vhat did you do?"

We also said that at the same time.

"The pain is gone."

I knew that already. The itch was gone. However, I had an overwhelming urge to unfurl my wings to full extent and…Oh great, I already was doing that. My wings stretched to their fullest and down stroked once. I immediately rose up. I did it again, I soared up high. Oh it was the best thing ever! Feeling the wind catching in my feathers and lifting me almost effortlessly, the emotion screamed at me saying "This is what you were made for!"

I kept going up until, I heard Kurt calling my name. I noticed that I could see his face clearly even though I was at least a hundred feet up, and hear my name as clear as though he was right next to me. I knew I would have to come down sometime. I didn't want to though. After a few more minutes, I sighed and glided down into my backyard again.

I stopped right in front of him.

"Finally, you've been up there for an hour!"

He said. I frowned, an hour? It had felt like only ten minutes to me.

"It couldn't have been that long." I told him. We walked inside. On the stove clock, it said 11:37 P. M. I put my hand to my mouth. I turned to Kurt.

"What happened to me?" I demanded. Kurt's eyes looked sad.

"I believe you're a mutant now." What? But I wasn't born like this.

"That's impossible." I told him.

"Mutants powers usually show up at puberty, vhey are often triggered by stress. Your life was such a routine, nothing interesting happened, und your powers were never triggered."

It made sense, my life was very boring. It had gotten a lot more exciting when Kurt showed up.

"What about the pain, the way my back hurt?"

"The same thing happened to me when I got my powers; I think it is just your body trying to adjust to your new powers. I also cut a little loose when I found out I could teleport. I just kept going until I got exhausted." I looked down.

"So what exactly can I do, what are my powers?" I asked, I think I already knew, but I needed confirmation.

"Vell, your vings are definitely one. Und I think you have healing abilities. You also have some influence over emotions." The wings were plain to see, and I know that I've only had them for an hour but I already loved them, I couldn't see my life without them anymore. I had also healed his wound, but emotions?

"What do you mean 'influence over emotions?'" I asked.

"Vhen you told me to stay still, I didn't vant to. I vanted to teleport avay where I _thought_ vas safer. But suddenly a wave of calm vashed over me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get myself scared again. I realized that it came from you."

I pondered this. "Why were you so afraid? All I was going to do was touch you."

"Vell, most mutants don't have healing powers, most have quite the opposite actually. I have met some vith absolutely formidable powers."

I shivered, it was all so much. I had just found out so much information about the world and myself in just an hour. It was a lot to take in. _Lord help me._

IV. Strange Visitors

I spent the next hour asking Kurt about his history. Apparently he had lived at a circus. He had been known as the 'Amazing Nightcrawler!' and had been quite the dare devil. I thought that that should have been his stage name instead of a worm, since it seemed more appropriate. But I guess dare devil wasn't a very original name. He had gotten sold like an animal to a freak show. There they locked him in a cage instead of having him do trapeze and acrobatics like in the previous circus. A young boy took pity upon him and let him go when no one was looking. He had gotten discovered by a small town, and they had assumed he was an actual demon. They had gotten stakes and pitchforks and formed a mob. One of the men had jabbed him with a fork, and that was how he got his wound. It was difficult, but he managed to teleport away. Instead of filling with hate for the world, he turned to God for sanctuary and redemption. He kept traveling until he found our church. And that's where I found him.

It was right about when he finished that there was a knock on the door. We had been so wrapped up in our conversation, the knock scared us. It was so easy to forget the rest of the world when we were talking. We noticed that unconsciously we had leaned forward towards each other. Now we jerked back.

"Now who could that be?"

I was hoping with all my heart that it wasn't my mother coming for a surprise visit.

"Just a minute!" I yelled to the door.

"What are we going to do?" I had wings and Kurt was blue, in short, neither of us could open the door.

"Can you pull in your vings?"

I tried. I managed to tuck them up against my body very tightly. It was uncomfortable though. I would have to live with it. They still showed, but throwing a sweater on over them and my tattered shirt they had torn though hid them. Kurt hid in the guest room. I threw a frantic glance in the mirror. My hair was a mess! The wind had really done its number on it. I raked my fingers through it until I was a little decent; it would have to do. I raced to the door and opened it.

"Yes?" There was a young man and a young woman standing there. The woman had green eyes and dark red hair, she was very pretty. I gave her a deep red color like her hair. The man had dark brown hair and red sunglasses. This was weird because the clouds in the sky made it so that you had light, but it wasn't blinding. His color was very similar to the girl's, adding a tint of brown to it making it brick red.

I winced. Another itch in my head came. The man had a slightly sprained wrist. I tried to resist the temptation to heal it. But what good were healing powers if you can't use them?

"Hi, we are from the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children. I'm Jean Grey, and this is Scott Summers." Jean said.

"I'm not interested in buying anything or enrolling anywhere." I told them.

"We aren't just any school. Has anything…strange, happened to you lately?" Scott said.

I immediately was guarded. How did they know? "Why?" I asked.

"Well, we are aware that you or someone you live with may be going through some unusual things. We just want to help you through it." She said. "We are a private school, for people with specific talents. We help train them to use them for the good of those around them."

That sounded almost too good to be true. A school that trained mutants to help others? Gifted, oh that's clever. Of course this could also have nothing to do with mutants. So I asked them.

"Does this by any chance have to do with… mutants? Have you even heard of them?" I hesitated; I would just say 'never mind' if they were not involved with this strange new aspect of my life. They looked at each other.

"Who told you about mutants?" Scott asked me. I didn't want to tell them about Kurt just yet so I just said,

"Uh… a friend. Are-are you, mutants?" I asked timidly. They nodded.

"Oh, well, why don't you come in?" I opened the door all the way. They walked in.

"So what was your name?" Scott asked.

"Astrea Gillepsie." We just stood there for a moment before I broke the silence

"How do you know that I'm a mutant?" I asked them, which still seemed a little suspicious.

"Our mentor and head of the school, Professor Charles Xavier, has some special qualities that can allow him to know a lot of things. That reminds me, do you live with another person? A spouse or children maybe?" Something fishy was going on, so I mostly told the truth.

"No, I live by myself."

"Have you had any visitors recently?" How did they know this? Seeing that I couldn't lie easily to these people, I gave up and sighed.

"Yes." I said.

"Is this the 'friend' that told you about mutants?"

Oh geez. "Yes." I said, nervously twisting that little strand that was in the way again. They looked satisfied. Then the girl frowned.

"You don't have to be afraid of us; we are here only to help. And we aren't going to force you to do something you don't want to." It was like she read my mind.

"No I'm not afraid. In fact, if you are so familiar with mutants, would you like to meet my friend?"

I half hoped that he scared them half to death and they ran away.

"Of course." Scott said.

"Okay, let me go get him." I walked around the corner and into the guest room. I didn't see him at first. He wasn't on the bed, or standing anywhere on the floor. Then I looked up. He was in the ceiling corner, stuck to the wall.

"What are you doing up there?" I asked.

"Sorry, I thought maybe you were your guest." He jumped lithely down and landed squatting in front of me.

"Well, my guests would like to meet you anyway. They're mutants. They seem to want to help us." I filled him in. Then I led him around to the living room where Scott and Jean were still sitting, talking to each other. They stopped as we came in. Their eyes widened for a moment but disappointingly, they composed their faces. Scott held out his hand,

"Hi, I'm Scott. This is Jean."

Kurt shook it.

"I'm Kurt, so, you're mutants?" They nodded again.

"Vhat are your powers?" He asked.

"I'm a telekinetic; I can move things with my mind. I also have some telepathic ability." Jean said. So, that meant she _had_ probably been reading my mind this whole time!

"And I can fire optic blasts from my eyes; unfortunately, I can't control them except when I either wearing ruby quartz sunglasses or a visor made of the same material."

That made me even more scared of him than before. _Formidable, _that's what Kurt said.

"We'd like to know more about your powers though." Jean said.

"I'm a teleporter. I can also blend with the darkness, and stick to valls. I call it 'stick-to-it-ness'" he smiled.

Jean snapped her fingers. "That's why!" She exclaimed.

"What?" I asked.

Kurt and Scott were also looking at her questionably. She turned to Scott.

"The Professor was having trouble locating Kurt with Cerebro because he kept moving from one place to another by teleporting!" She told him.

"Oh yeah, I heard him say something like that." He said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, who or what is a Cerebro?" I asked.

"The Professor's the strongest telepath on the planet. He's teaching me to develop. Cerebro is a device that amplifies the Professor's power so he can find any person, mutant or human, on the planet. That is how we found you two." Jean said, flicking her eyes back and forth between us. That was creepy, so no matter how hard we tried we could never hide from this guy.

"So what are your powers Astrea?" Scott asked.

"I just got my powers a couple hours ago, but I think I know what they are. I need more space." The living room was too small, I couldn't unfurl without knocking something over. We walked outside to the backyard where I had first flown. I made sure nothing was in my way before taking off my sweatshirt and flicking them out. I opened them to full extent (which was about fifteen and a half ft. across) and shook them. Jean gasped. I sighed. It felt awesome to open them again. It had been getting really uncomfortable to hold them to my back like that.

"They're beautiful," She mumbled.

I still heard her clear as a bell. I looked at her,

"Thanks." I turned to Scott. "I also have another power. I noticed that your wrist is sprained and is causing you pain. I can heal it." I told him. His eyebrows rose.

"I was aware that I'd hurt it, but I didn't know I sprained it." He said. I held out my hand, and he put his into it. Again, my eyesight went fuzzy, but the healing lightning crawled down my arm and circled around his wrist and faded into it. All of the sudden I felt tired. I stumbled a bit to the side. Kurt was immediately there helping me gain my balance again. But gradually, my strength came back. Though I was still very tired, I was still happy. I was finally helping people! My dream was coming true, even if it was one person at a time.

"Whoa…" I said.

"That didn't happen before." Kurt said.

I put my hand to my forehead and shook my head.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked.

"Fine, but it worked." The itch was gone once more.

"Yeah, my wrist doesn't hurt anymore. It's like brand new!" Scott said.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked.

"Well, if you could come with us to the school, we could give you a tour. Then you could decide whether or not you want to stay? We also could probably get Kurt here some new clothes." Jean offered.

Kurt was still wearing the same cargo cutoff shorts from yesterday. _Wow, it's hard to believe it was just yesterday, so much has happened._ He was still shirtless as well. I considered this.

"Kurt, what do you say? Whatever you decide, I'm with you." I told him.

"Hmm…I think there is no harm in taking this tour. Let's go see this school." Kurt said. I smiled.

"So where is this place?" I asked them.

"About a few miles from here actually. We were surprised when you showed up so close to the institute. Sometimes we have to go across countries to find people." Scott said.

We decided to wait until tomorrow to go, bright and early. I invited Jean and Scott to stay for dinner and they agreed. They seemed really happy that we had agreed to go to the institute. I made a lasagna and salad. While doing this, Kurt told our visitors the whole story of how he worked at the circus and how I found him, and we had discovered my powers. Apparently my eyes turned white and glowed when I used my powers, and that's where the lightning came from. Maybe that's why my eyesight blurred.

We sat eating together when Jean's cell phone rang.

"Oh, excuse me." She stood and went over to the living room, but we could still hear her as there was no wall or door between the kitchen and the living room.

"Hey Rogue," She said. _Rogue? What kind of a name is Rogue?_

"Yeah we found them. Yes. They're coming tomorrow; they invited me and Scott for dinner. The girl is a healer, and the man is a teleporter. Yeah that's why it was so hard for the Professor to find him. They both look a little different, like Beast, Leech, Caliban and Artie. They're both really kind though. Their appearances make it really ironic that they found each other. You'll see what I mean. Yeah we'll be home by 7:00. Bye Rogue."

She came back into the room. _Strange names, I mean 'Beast? Leech? Rogue? Caliban?' _I guess we would see tomorrow.

The Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children

I pulled up in front of a huge mansion. To the side was a cliff overlooking a small private cove. The front of the building had Ivy trellises leaning against it. In short, the place was beautiful. In the wide driveway were at least four cars, a sports car, an SUV, a shiny red BMW convertible, and a monster Jeep with tires probably taller than my waist.

"Are you sure we have the right place?" Kurt asked me.

"Well, this is the address. Let's go find out."

Kurt put on the sweatshirt I gave him and some baggy pants. He pulled the hood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. It was some of my dad's old clothes and therefore a bit big for him, but it was the most I could do to try to hide his appearance just in case we had the wrong place.

Halfway up the driveway, I could see a gold plaque next to the door that said,

_Xavier's Institute_

_For Gifted Children. _

We walked up to the big double doors. I paused a moment, hesitating before ringing the doorbell, holding my hand right above it. I couldn't help it, I was nervous. I gotten used to the idea of my wings and the way Kurt looked. It came as easily as breathing. What would I feel when I met these other people whom I had never met, and were probably not like other normal people? Kurt put his hand on my shoulder and his other hand he slipped into mine. I looked over at him. He had a reassuring look in his bright eyes and a small half smile on his lips. He knew my anxiety. I smiled back, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell. I could hear the chime ringing throughout the entire place. The door opened and standing there was a six year old girl with an ice cream cone. I was surprised for a moment. This was not what I expected to see. I thought that a…I don't know! A giant squid man might answer the door, instead of some little normal-looking girl. Then she blinked and her eyelids came together sideways, vertically instead of horizontal. Okay, _almost _normal. I gave neon purple for her color. I looked past her at the inside. There was a colossal staircase, some couches to the side, an elevator and doors on either side of the room.

"Hi, what's your name?" She asked.

I looked at Kurt, he shrugged.

"Um, Astrea, what's yours?" I asked her.

"I'm not 'apposed to talk to strangers." She said.

"Oh, that's right, you shouldn't. Um, could I talk to an adult then?" I asked her.

She turned around, and sucked in a big gulp of air and shouted so loud that it shook the building,

"Rogue! 'Dere are weird people at da' door!"

I put my hands over my ears, too late. That girl had a pair of lungs! A woman came down the stairs. She had dark brown hair with two white streaks in the front.

"Chrissy! Ah thought ah told ya ta not answer the door or use your powers ta call us!"

Then she saw us.

"Oh, hello, uh, Chrissy who's this?"

She had a southern accent, and she had a long sleeved shirt, jeans, high boots and gloves. I gave her a soft cream orange color. Chrissy shrugged.

"Hi, I'm Astrea Gillepsie. Um, we got an invitation yesterday to come here for a tour?"

"Oh, you're the winged gal. Yeah, Jean told me 'bout ya. I'm Rogue."

She held out a hand and I shook it. She turned to Chrissy.

"Chrissy, why doncha' go and play with the others?"

Chrissy scurried off and went through the door on the right.

"She has some pipes." Kurt noted.

She turned to him.

"You must be Kurt. Yeah, she's our little canary. Why doncha come on in?"

We walked in. "Ya know, ya don't have to cover up like that here."

She gestured to Kurt's sweatshirt.

"Here is one of the only places that ya don't have to hide."

"Then vhy do you cover up?" Kurt asked.

_Oh yeah, that could mean that she also has something to hide. _She smiled sheepishly,

"Ah wear this stuff for safety reasons, not because Ah look different. If Ah wasn't wearing all this, and ya just happened to brush my skin, ya'll likely to end up in a coma."

"Oh, I see." Kurt said. He removed his hood. Rogue eyes widened for a moment, the way that Scott and Jean's had. Then they lowered. She put a hand over her mouth, looking like she was trying not to say something. Then she did something that surprised us both. She giggled. Then she started cracking up hard. She was shaking with laughter. She rose up into the air a couple of feet, doubling over in hysteria. Both I and Kurt stepped back a few steps.

"What's so funny?" I asked. When she could take a few breaths, she said

"The irony!"

_Irony? Jean said something like that last night. 'Their appearances make it really ironic that they found each other, you'll see what I mean' that's what she said, but what did she mean?_

"Vhat's ironic?" Kurt asked. He was wondering the same thing.

"Ya mean ya really don' know?" Rogue asked. We shook our heads. "Whooh! That's what Jean meant. Well it's just that, you look like a demon." She pointed to Kurt. "And you look like an angel I bet!"

She started busting up again, doing a somersault in the air. I thought about it for a moment. _Kurt looks like a demon. I look like an angel. OH! _Once I got it, I started laughing just as hard as her. Then Kurt started laughing too.

We were laughing so much; none of us noticed when a young boy of about 8 years came in the room. His skin was tinted green and he had unnaturally large brown eyes. Rogue all of the sudden froze in the air, and seemed to lose her ability to fly, and fell to the ground.

"Ow! Oh hi Leech." Then she started laughing double time, us along with her. We were literally laughing so hard we were on the floor with an occasional tear streaking down our faces. I felt like a child having fun with some old friends, laughing so much we forgot what we were laughing about. We heard some yelling, and a big group of children started racing down the stairs.

"Leech! Where'd you go!" They stopped in their tracks when they saw us.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" A girl with blonde hair asked.

"Those are the weird people who were at the door a couple minutes ago." Chrissy told her.

When we finally calmed down, another boy asked

"Who's this?"

Rogue took a deep breath.

"These are some visitors that may be joining the school Rusty, so be nice." She told them.

"Do you know them?" The first girl asked.

"No, I just met them Skids." "Well, it seemed like you know them, your acting like the best of friends. What was so funny?"

Rogue thought about it for a moment, trying to remember.

Kurt got up and helped me too. I felt really uncomfortable, I had been holding my wings to my side for to long. It had been even harder to do this while I was laughing.

"Oh yeah!" She chuckled again at the memory. "We're laughing 'cause of the irony. It's just funny, because well one of our visitors, Astrea here, just happens to look like a' angel. And well her friend here looks like a demon." She giggled again.

I tapped her shoulder.

"Yeah?" She turned around.

"Speaking of my wings, it's getting a little uncomfortable to hold them in. Do you mind if I let them out?" I asked.

"Oh sure! No prob' ya just go on ahead."

I smiled.

I took off the sweater I had on and shook them out.

"Ah, much better."

I said. I heard some of the children whispering. I turned to them.

"What?" I asked them, a little scared of what they might say. They were all staring at me. It was a little embarrassing. The girl, Skids spoke for them.

"Well, it's just that your wings are very pretty. We don't get a lot of pretty mutants here." She said.

She made me blush. My feathers swayed with bliss. Another itch was suddenly called forth. One of the children had a scrape on his or her knee. My feathers rustled with irritation this time. My eyes narrowed, the smile slid off my face. This was getting annoying.

"Is something wrong?" Kurt asked me, putting a hand on my arm.

"Which one of you has a scraped knee?" I asked them. Their eyes widened with surprise. One of the younger boys was shoved forward by another. He was at least four. His skin was a strange purple shade. His eyes were completely black. I mean they had no whites; they were just a dark beady black, and he did not have hair, but some weird little bumps all over it that make you think of a dinosaur. He had his own color; I didn't need to give one to him.

"Artie does." Someone said. Yes, this was the child. I kneeled down in front of him. He was shy; he kept ducking his head down and turning halfway trying to get back into the crowd of kids.

"It's okay. You don't have to be scared."

I tried pushing the calming feelings on him the way I did with Kurt. After a few seconds, he stopped being so shy and turned all the way towards me. I heard Rogue pull the first young boy, Leech, back a couple feet. He protested but finally gave in and let her take him away.

"Can you show me your knee?" He sat on the floor and pulled up his pant leg. There on the very top was a shallow scrape. All of them had scratches of course, but they were just little annoyances to be brushed away like flies. But Artie had a scrape that persisted in tormenting me, like it kept biting me. I put my hand on it. The way I expected, my eyesight got blurry and the bolts tingled along my hand into his knee. A bunch of the kids gasped. He whimpered a little bit, but then he smiled a big smile. The scratch was gone. Something appeared over his head. It was a picture. It showed him hugging me with a question mark next to it. It scared me for a moment. Then Rusty explained.

"Artie's power is to project images. He's asking you if he can hug you." I turned to him, and then back to Artie. I smiled

"Sure, why not?" I told him. He smiled even wider than I thought possible and threw his little arms around me. My heart swelled up with joy and content. I was helping people! It made me feel so...I couldn't find an adequate word to describe it. Thank you Lord! A million times thank you!

My happiness faltered for a moment when I teetered a bit to the side when a wave of exhaustion came over me. Artie helped me up. Kurt came and helped me too. I stood.

"That's twice now, vhat do you think is wrong?" Kurt asked me.

"What do ya mean 'twice'?" Rogue asked, still holding Leech back.

"Vhen Scott and Jean visited us, Astrea noticed that Scott had a sprained wrist. She healed it, but for a moment, she vas...vhat exactly happened?" He turned to me.

"I'm not sure. I just felt exhausted. My strength faded for a moment then came back. I was still tired, but not so much as just seconds before." I told them. Rogue made a face. She turned to Leech, who was squirming, trying to get out of her grasp.

"Okay already, go on with the other children." She let him go.

"Okay kids, go on to whatevah' ya were doin' before we interrupted." The children went back up the stairs, but Artie turned around at the last moment and ran down and gave me one last hug before going and joining the others. I smiled. That still felt good.

"He's special, Artie? He's nevah gonna forget ya now." Rogue said. I turned to her.

"Why were you holding that boy, Leech, back? Was he doing something wrong?" I asked her. She laughed.

"Oh no, Leech's power is to shut off powers. He's still learnin' to use it. If he had been standin' where he was when you healed Artie, ya wouldn't have been able ta do it." She told me.

"Oh,"

_So that's why she fell when the boy came into the room. _

"If ya'll come with me, ya kin meet the professor. Ah think he's in a class right now but it'll be over in a coupla' minutes."

We followed her up the stairs and to the left, took a couple turns then got to a door. Rogue opened it without knocking and walked in. It was a very large office. Some kids were sitting in the few chairs and on the carpet. Some of them looked…inhuman, as well. There was a bald man in a wheelchair behind a desk, speaking to them. Behind him was a big whiteboard with dozens of notes scribbled all over it. I guessed that this was the Professor, the greatest telepath on earth. He looked up as we came in and stopped talking.

"Sorry to disturb ya Professor." Rogue said.

All of the children were so young. They were all at least 12 to 15 years old.

"No, no, Rogue. You're perfectly okay." He turned back to the kids. "I expect that essay on my desk first thing tomorrow. Okay?" Some of them groaned but all mumbled an okay. "Dismissed." He told them.

They all got up and took their books out the door. One girl stayed behind to ask the Professor a question on her homework. When she was satisfied she said,

"Thanks Professor, Bye."

"Bye Kitty." He said back. She turned around, looked at us for a brief moment and waved, then took a step and sank through the floor. Literally _through _the floor. She slipped right into it as if it were water. I sat gaping at the floor for a moment. Then my attention was brought back as the Rogue spoke.

"These are the two that Jean and Scott invited. They seem to have fairly good control over their powers. Though Astrea seems to be having trouble when she does."

The Professor looked at me.

"Is that so?" He had a very formal voice.

"Yes sir, it didn't happen the first time, but now every time I use it, I get exhausted to the point where I can't hold up my own weight." I told him.

"Hmm, well, what exactly do you do?" He asked.

"I can heal if I touch a wound." I told him.

"I wonder if that's really _all _you do." He said.

"Well, I can also kind of manipulate the emotions of another person, make them calmer." I had forgotten that. "Other than my wings, I think that's about it." I said, flexing one wing out a bit to create more emphasis.

"No, no, that's not what I meant; though that is quite interesting. I meant that when you heal a person, is that all you do, heal them? Perhaps you could demonstrate." He asked. I didn't know what he was talking about, but I said

"Sure."

VI. The X-MEN

We walked out of the room back into the hallway and walked across it to an elevator and stepped in. It was kind of large, but there were quite a few people in it. I started getting this feeling of panic. Which was kind of strange, what should I be afraid of? My anxiety grew, more with each moment.

"The building is what seems to be a normal school." The Professor said, turning my attention to him. "The lower levels, however, are a completely different manner."

I swallowed and started to tremble. Kurt, who was standing next to me, noticed. "Are you okay Astrea? You're shivering."

"I…I don't know." I said. _What is wrong with me? _I started getting light headed. I sat down and leaned against the corner, drawing my knees to my chest and hyperventilating. I was really shaking. I needed to get out of this elevator. Kurt was kneeling beside me. After what seemed like an eternity, the doors opened and I bolted out into a much larger, silver corridor before the doors could even open fully. I grazed my left wing on the way out and it started to throb. I let out the breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. That probably explained the dizziness. I was kneeling on the floor and sucking in breath after breath like I couldn't get enough air in. All the oxygen was making my head spin again, so I concentrated on breathing normally. Kurt rushed to my side.

"What's wrong?" He asked. Kurt and I seemed to have developed a close friendship in the past few days. It was him that was familiar in this strange new world.

"Ah, you're claustrophobic like me." I heard another very formal voice say. I looked up and saw a beautiful dark-skinned, white-haired woman in weird clothing. I realized that she was right; I had developed claustrophobia overnight. Like a bird, I hated being stuck in a cage…or an elevator.

"You're claustrophobic?" I asked, breathless.

"Of course, the storm does not like to be trapped." She had a sort of wild yet gentle look about her. And her voice wasn't as formal as it was regal. Dark Grey, I decided was her color. The professor wheeled out. "Storm, meet Astrea and Kurt. Astrea, Kurt, meet one of the team, Storm."

Kurt helped me up, "Team?" He asked.

"Yes, as I was saying, the school has two levels. One is elementary. The other is to exercise and train with each student's powers." He said. "When I first started this school, some of my first students trained for battle. They were called the 'X-men'. Jean, Scott, Beast and Iceman were in the original team. Storm, Rogue, Gambit, Colossus and Kitty joined us later."

Huh. "Why don't we show our guests the Danger room? Storm said. "I was about to join them for a session actually."

Danger _room? That doesn't sound good,_ I thought. I looked at Kurt and it was obvious that he was thinking the same thing. But there was a hint of excitement. I guess it was that dare devil inside him. He probably saw the prospect of danger as a challenge.

"Actually, we were bringing Astrea to Hank's lab. But Kurt can go with ya if he wants ta." Rogue said.

Storm looked over at Kurt. "Would you like to go?" Kurt looked ready to say yes. But he looked over at me, saw my uneasiness, and told them that he would visit when I did.

"I think that would be best," the professor said." Gambit has started the session 'Deadly Sentinels'." I shivered at the name. Did everything in this place have to be named something threatening? Was it supposed to be some kind of inside joke?

When we got there, Rogue knocked this time.

"Hank?" She called.

I jumped when I heard a shatter of glass, a small explosion, and a voice.

"Oh my stars and garters!" It called.

"Hank?" She called again, worried this time.

The door opened and I gasped at what I saw. Standing there was a huge blue gorilla. The others gasped too, but not because there was a primate in the doorway. They gasped because up the front of him, starting at his chest and all over his face, the fur was black, singed, and smoking. The glasses on the bridge of his nose were completely covered in ash.

He calmly reached up, and took off the bifocals and said,

"Yes?"

There were circles around his eyes. And he looked so funny I just had to giggle. I could tell Kurt was trying not to smile as well. I covered my mouth with my hand when the monkey turned to me. Though now, as I looked closely behind the mess, I saw that his nose looked more human and his eyes were too intelligent for a gorilla. Even his stance was straighter. _He'd also spoke! _This was no monkey.

"Oh, hello. My name is Dr. Henry McCoy." He held out a massive hairy hand. I shook it, my hand so tiny and smothered in his. Then Kurt shook it.

"I'm Kurt Vagner."

"And I'm Astrea Gillepsie."

Dr. McCoy looked amused as he shook Kurt's hand.

"Vhat is it?" Kurt asked.

"I just find it strange. It seems that the mutant gene just seems drawn to the color blue. You and I are not the only blue mutants that I know of." He explained.

_Hmm, I thought that it was just a coincidence that they looked so similar. _

"But I'm being rude. What can I do for you?"

"We would like scientist's eyes to observe Amelia's gift and tell us what you see. She seems to be having trouble with it." The professor answered.

"Of course! Let's see it!" He replied enthusiastically.

"Um, Beast…" Rogue hesitated. She gestured to his appearance questioningly.

He looked down, seemingly just noticing the stripe down his torso.

"Hmm," He looked behind him, back into the room. "Aah, a failed experiment." He paused for a moment with a speculating look on his face. "With a rather remarkable outcome, I might say. Which is strange, the molecules were fairly stable when I combined them…" He trailed off.

He turned around and walked back into the room, taking a beaker and some tweezers and bending over the place where the explosion obviously occurred.

Rogue sighed, and the professor grimaced.

"Hank?" Rogue said yet again.

She startled him and he poured a lot of purple bubbly liquid into the beaker with some pieces of ash in it from the mess. He turned around and faced us.

"Yes?"

It combusted into flames and as he turned to us, he put his arm through it!

"Beast!" Rogue called.

She ran the wall and pulled off the fire extinguisher, pulled the pin and put out the fire. I cried out. I felt the pain, and he was badly burned. I stumbled forward and reached for him. I tripped and fell to my knees. I leaned forward and touched him. The lightning again poured down my arm to my hand and traveled across his body, sealing cuts and healing bruises. But on his burn the light swirled and twisted.

He let out a long content sigh, while I fell over frontward and would have hit the floor, but Kurt caught me. I was unconscious in moments.

**Combat Names**

My head was so fuzzy. I could feel that I was pulling towards awareness. I didn't want to. I heard voices and it took me a second t o figure out that they were talking about me. I knew that the day before, something very important happened to me. But I couldn't recall what.

"Yes, what she does is pull energy from her own body and transfers it to another person. Looking at her energy patterns now, I can see that she has a lot more than a normal person, and therefore more to give. However that doesn't mean that there isn't a danger. If she gives too much of it, it could be fatal for her."

All of the past weeks events came pouring back on me like a waterfall. My eyes snapped open, and I gasped in a huge breath of air.

I sat bolt upright in the hospital bed.

Kurt put his hand on mine.

"You're okay," he said.

I felt something on my nose and reached up to tear it off. His other hand caught mine before I could.

"Oh no you don't." He said.

I looked around me; I was in a hospital type room on a large bed. Dr. McCoy was looking at some machines that were hooked up to my arm.

I put my hand to my head, I had a headache.

"Where am I?" I asked him. I felt a lot calmer when he was near me.

"Their infirmary. You scared us vhen you fell unconscious." He said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You healed too many people in vone day. You can't give that much energy before it starts draining your own."

I sat there, pondering this. He put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back.

"And you still haven't fully recovered yet. So get some rest."

"Nah, I'm fine now." The headache dissipated and I just felt a little lightheaded.

I noticed that Kurt smelled of smoke and that his clothes were singed and torn.

"What happened to _you?_" I asked. I scanned him with my strange sense and came up with a couple bruises, but very low profile. He was just a little banged up.

He smiled. "I tried my hand at the danger room."

"And did quite well at it I might say." Hank said. "Logan is going to take weeks to fix some of that equipment."

Kurt's face glowed, and I just had to smile too. When he was happy, it lifted me too.

"Well, since you _are _feeling better, would you like to meet the rest of the team?" Hank asked.

I pulled the covers off and stood up. I rolled my shoulders and flexed my wings.

"Sure." I said.

oOo

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet some new members to the Xavier's institute. This is Kurt Wagner, and Amelia Gillepsie."

There were some murmurs from the small crowd of people. Only one guy seemed to keep his cool. He was kind of scrubby, and had a beer in his hand. He didn't even seem to be paying attention. And I think the reason that I really noticed him was that he was the only one without injury. All of the people in the crowd were hurt in some form or another.

"What can they do?" A man with an impressive build asked. He had a Russian accent.

"Well, Kurt here is a teleporter. And Amelia can heal; sort of like you Logan." He addressed the scrubby man.

He looked a bit to the side at me.

"She's a self-healer?" He asked. His voice was also really gruff. And it was difficult to see this man as someone who gave life.

"Ah, no, not really. On second thought, she doesn't really have much in common with you at all. She heals others, not herself. She can transport her energy to another. Though she does restore it when she sleeps. And you see that she has a very different defense than you."

He rubbed his knuckles self-consciously.

The girl that we saw earlier in the classroom, who had sunk through the floor, Kitty, was sitting in the Russian guy's lap, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"So her power is purely defensive, like mine?" She asked.

"We aren't entirely sure if we have yet unlocked the true nature of her power, but we think so." The professor answered.

"Wait." I said. "You mean you think there is still _more_ to what I can do?" _I don't think I could handle any more power, it's all so overwhelming._

"I said I wasn't sure. You shouldn't worry, there is little chance. If there is more, we shall help you through it." He said.

Ugh, he was doing that mind reading thing again. In the corner of my eye I could see him smirk.

"Do you have names yet?" The Russian guy asked.

"Names?" Kurt inquired.

"Yes, combat names, we all have them." Storm said. "Storm is not my real name. But I prefer to go by it. My real name is Ororo Munroe."

"I'm Shadowkat." Kitty said.

"I am Colossus." The Russian guy said.

"I'm Cyclops." Scott said.

"Marvel girl." Jean said.

"Wolverine." The scrubby man, Logan, said. As he said it, huge knives protruded from between his knuckles.

"Ah'm just Rogue." Rogue said.

"I'm Iceman." A boy in the corner said.

"I am simply known as Professor X." The professor said.

"I'll just be Nightcrawler." Kurt said.

That left all the attention on me… again.

I thought about for a moment. Well Sage had healing properties. It could also be made into tea, which was calming. _A_ sage was very knowledgeable, as I was in medicine, though I was no master. I made up my mind.

"Silver Sage." I said.

Full Moon

I tossed in my bed. They had given us each a room, as we had agreed to join them. But these rooms were all pitch black and everything seemed to be silent. Now I love the dark, and silence is a sweet gift, but I just couldn't fall asleep in this unfamiliarity.

I stood cautiously, and carefully made my way to the door. At least the hall light was on. I tried to tiptoe past the rooms, but the light was very dim and I tripped on a fold in the carpet. My breath whooshed out as I hit the floor. I stopped breathing for a moment in fear I had woken someone. I only heard the faint creak of bed springs from the door nearest me. Then all was quiet again. I let out a relieved sigh.

I made my way through the web of hallways until I finally made it to the front door. I went outside and was suddenly bathed in the brightness of the full moon. I looked up in awe at the beauty of it, and couldn't help letting my wings out. I took a running start and jumped into the air.

I flew around for a while, closing my eyes and just enjoying the night air. Sometimes I flew up and up to as high as I could go, then tucked in my wings and dropped like a rock. Always at the last moment flicking my wings out and slowing myself down before I crashed on the ground hard, laughing all the while. I was having such fun! Then I heard a cry and a rustle of wings that weren't my own. I realized I wasn't alone. One lone owl was flying in circles with me. I watched him. I watched the way his wings moved ever so slightly to change directions and how effortlessly he kept himself in the air. I tried to copy him and it worked incredibly well. I immediately started flying smoother.

I landed on the roof as quiet as a mouse, and sat down with my legs dangling off the side. The owl came and landed next to me. When I offered my arm, he hopped up on it and hooted a loud hoot. I pet him quietly for a minute and studied his patterns on his wings.

"I'll name you…BuBo." I told him. I'd heard the name before from a Greek myth. Athena's pet owl was named BuBo. After a couple minutes, the wind blew against us and he lifted his wings and took off.

I wrapped my arms around my body and shivered, now that I wasn't moving quite so much, I was freezing.

"You cold?" A hand on my shoulder and a voice from behind me startled me so much I gave a little yelp and nearly fell off the roof. Two strong arms caught me and pulled me back up again, and I looked into two familiar glowing eyes.

"Kurt!" I said, gasping and putting my hand up to cup my throat and the other on my heart.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." He said.

"Just let me start my heart up again." I said, sagging against him.

He put his arm around my shoulder and chafed my arm. I immediately started to warm up. His skin was really warm, like he had a fever. He didn't though, I could sense that.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked him.

He smiled his funny half smile that I could barely see, even with the light of the full moon. "Oh, just enjoying the show."

It dawned on me, he had been watching me. My cheeks flamed with embarrassment.

He chuckled out loud this time. With his bright eyes, he could probably see my blush perfectly.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about." He said.

"How long have you been watching?" I asked.

He put his hand to his chin and pretended to think.

"Hmm…the whole time." He said with a wide smile, trying to hold in his laughter.

"No!" I said dramatically, lying down across the roof and putting my fore arm across my eyes.

He couldn't hold it in any longer. He let out a long laugh that rang through the night and laid next me. I took a deep breath, took my hand off my eyes and looked up at the stars.

"There are so many stars here! There aren't any like this in Sacramento. That's where my mother lives. I used to live there but grew so bored that I moved to this small town. It wasn't much better, but there were more things to see and boy am I glad I did come here. If I'd gotten my powers in the middle of my _mom's _kitchen floor, I'd probably have gone mad."

"And I would probably be still in that old church. It's so… awesome, I guess, the perfect way God had brought you and me together." He paused for a moment before asking, "Can I tell you something?"

"Hmm?" I asked.

"_Ich bin in der Liebe mit Ihnen._" He said.

I turned to him.

"What?" I asked. That sounded like a bunch of weird babble to me. His smile was big as he looked at me.

"_Ich liebe dich_." He repeated. Still babble. "It's German." He explained.

"Oh, what does it mean?" I asked.

His lips stretched farther.

"That's what you have to find out for your own."

I frowned, and he laughed again at my expression.

I leaned closer to him, he was so warm and the night was cold. When my skin touched his fur it was super soft.

"Your skin is really…" I started to say, but he cut me off.

"I know, _furry" _he said. I looked up at him; he was frowning now, with no hint of amusement in his eyes. I leaned up on one elbow, looking into his eyes.

"No, _soft." _I said, with fervency in my voice. His eyes widened. I looked at him with new eyes. He obviously didn't like the way he looked. And who could blame him? But I thought, looking at him now, that he was quite handsome.

He was looking at me this whole time. Looking into my eyes as I stared back, noticing the beautiful shade of indigo that his fur and hair was.

"You know, you have gold specks in your eyes." He said, throwing me off guard and distracting my train of thought.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Gold specks, you have specks of gold in your emerald eyes." He said.

I knew that I had yellow in my eyes, but I had never thought about it that way. I blushed again.

"Well, sure, but how can I compare to solid gold?" I said smiling at him and his glowing golden eyes.

He reached his hand up to touch my cheek and I felt something wrap around my waist and pull me closer to him. I realized it was his tail, and he pulled me so close that I was lying on his chest. I realized what he was doing and went along with it, putting my hand on his cheek and leaning in till our lips touched. I reached up and tangled my fingers in his hair, closing my eyes. Joy sprang up in my heart, with something else…something I didn't quite recognize at first. Then an epiphany blossomed in me. I loved him.

Danger and Other Things Room

I opened my eyes slowly. It was very bright. When my eyes adjusted, I found myself lying next to Kurt with his arm around me. His hand made small circles in between my wings. It felt incredible. I shivered, and looked up into his face. I smiled and he did too seeing that I was awake.

"How did you sleep?" He asked.

I tried to remember, and a nightmare I had had came to my mind. It had been about my brother. My brother… He had joined the army when I was seven. It had broken my heart, along with the fact that my father died a couple weeks after that, someone had shot him for the paper in his wallet.

I had felt such emotional pain, that now I wondered why my powers hadn't shown up then. Then I remembered that it showed at puberty. After a couple years of being hospitalized because of my depression, I woke up and instead of feeling the unbearable pain, I chose to let myself feel nothing. I spent most of the rest of my life that way, a void of nothingness. I didn't date, or go to dances. I ended up acing all of my classes because I never paid any attention to anything else and studying was a way of preoccupying myself so that I didn't think of what had happened to me.

I had finally gotten over it, and came out of my safe room. I let myself be happy and sad and angry again. But I was pretty sure I would always be alone. I never imagined anything like the comic book my life was now, or that I _would_ end up falling in love.

Kurt brushed away a tear under my eye, his eyes troubled. I realized that I hadn't answered his question.

"Fine." I lied.

He frowned. He knew I was lying, but didn't speak out. And for that I was glad. I didn't think I could hold in my tears if I spoke of my brother too much.

"You sounded like you were having a nightmare; you kept pleading for someone to stay with you."

Oh no, I'd spoken in my sleep. I knew that I did that, but I had lived alone for so long I forgot.

"What did you hear?" I asked him.

"You kept saying the name Jasper." A jolt shot through me and I shivered again.

Then he smiled sheepishly, "And you said my name." He said.

I sighed, "A lot?" I asked.

His smile grew wider and I could tell he was trying not to. I just laid my face down in his shoulder.

"So should we go back inside?" He asked.

I reluctantly raised my head and nodded.

He looked at me. Then his grin became excited.

"Close your eyes." He told me.

"Why?" I said, suspicious.

"Do it, trust me." He said.

Of course I trusted him, so I did it. I squeezed my eyes tight. I felt this sensation of being pulled forward by some force, very quickly and it only lasted a second. But it was exhilarating, like a rollercoaster, with a big jump at the end.

"You can open your eyes now." He said.

I did and was astonished to see that we were in my room, now filled with light from the gigantic window. We were lying next to each other on my bed. I gasped.

"How did we get in here?"

I looked over at Kurt. He smiled at my widened eyes and answered, "I teleported."

"Oh." I said. I'd seen him do it once before. I didn't know that he could take someone else with him.

Suddenly there was a hurried knocking on the door. Kitty stuck her head through the door, literally.

"Amelia! Oh, sorry didn't mean to bother you." She said upon seeing us together on my bed.

I blushed profusely.

"No ve…ve veren't…" Kurt mumbled. Apparently He was as embarrassed as I was. But thanks to his dark fur, it didn't show on his face except for a slightly nervous expression.

"Um, yeah so…oh yeah!" She remembered what she had come in to say and told me that it was my turn in the danger room. "So eat up! You're going to need the energy!"

I slightly paled. Some of the other students had told me a little about the Danger Room, and frankly, I wasn't too eager to start my first session. I shivered and Kurt's arm tightened around me.

"Don't vorry, I'll come with you and help you out.

110


End file.
